When English-speaking people speak Spanish

Joaquin   Friday, June 25, 2004, 02:04 GMT
Hi Jordi,
Thanks for answering my question. Imagine being a young Filipino boy in school learning for the first time an alphabet without c, f, j, q, v, x, and z, yet your name is Joaquin Francisco Velasquez de la Cruz! (those other names aren't mine by the way). How would you be able to spell your name without all those necessary letters?? How confusing!

As to your questions, this passage from a website on Tagalog should give you the answers:

Spanish influence
Tagalog was heavily influenced by the Spanish language. Possibly a third of the words in Tagalog are of Spanish origin. A classic example is the Tagalog phrase "Kumusta?" (How are [you]?). This phrase directly came from the Spanish "¿Cómo está (usted)?".

The adoption of Spanish words into Tagalog was so prevalent that Tagalog speakers can now vaguely understand rudimentary Spanish, although do not realize it. This idea has been used effectively in Spanish classes for Filipinos by letting students read a complete essay in Spanish where most of the words are also found in Tagalog.

Majority of the Spanish words adopted into Tagalog were those that referred to foreign concepts such as the names of the days of the week and months, such as "Huwebes" and "Mayo", which came from the Spanish "jueves" (Thursday) and "mayo" (May).

The adoption of Spanish gave rise to the curious phenomenon of two or more words referring to the same concept. For example, the Tagalog word for "chair" is either the native "upuan" or "salampuwit", but the Spanish-based "silya" (from "silla") is prevalent in popular speech. Another example is the Tagalog words for "city": "lunsod" and "siyudad" (from the Spanish "ciudad"). Spanish numbers as opposed to the native Tagalog numbers, are also used frequently, especially in telling the time and in counting money.

The Spanish Empire did not treat the Philippines as a population colony and sent only a few speakers of Spanish. This could be attributed to the enormous distance needed to travel. A greater number of the Spaniards arrived after the opening of the Suez canal. However, certain families have maintained the language and still speak it. Speakers are typically, but not always the elite. Many older people speak it well in Zamboanga (in the southern islands) where the general population still speak a Spanish-based creole.
Xatufan   Friday, June 25, 2004, 02:23 GMT
Thank you, Joaquin.

I almost fainted when I read General_Ricardo's message. Puto comes from puta, which comes from prostituta (which means prostitute).
Jason   Friday, June 25, 2004, 08:57 GMT
Yes it translates to whore.
He is very polite isn't he? =)

Abrazo
MJGR   Friday, June 25, 2004, 09:11 GMT
I would like to apologize to Jordi for my comment of the last week about the "Internet addition". It was only a joke and I thought it was going to be interpreted like just that. Perhaps I should have added something like :-).
Jordi asks "Who's interested in breaking the Catalan language?". The fact is that there is a lot of interest about that. In fact, there has been political parties (such as Unio Valenciana) who defended as one of the main political points the independence of Catalan and Valencian. In fact that rubbish about language has a lot to do with political power and things like that. You are from Catalonia? You can work in Catalonia and in the rest of Spain You are not from Catalonia? You cannot speak Catalan? Out of here!!! Valencians have also the right for their jobs in exclusive ownership.
Besides I would like everybody to speak English and forget his awful langagues.
Jason   Friday, June 25, 2004, 09:19 GMT
Its really facinating that there are other forms of Spanish. Why do you thin it is that latin american countries use spanish most similar to castillan?

Abrazo
Jordi   Friday, June 25, 2004, 09:31 GMT
The fact is one should speak the language of the place where he lives. He shouldn't even be asked, it should be a matter of consideration to the people who receive you and of personal interest. Learning Catalan for a Spanish speaker is quite easy. It will only take him a few months or a year if he's really keen. The same could be said with Italian or other Romance languages for Romance language speakers. The problem arises when a newcomer expects those "at home" to be like him and speak like him. What effort does he do? And I don't agree languages are "awful" because languages are exactly the opposite "just beautiful". And politics always play stronger for the strong than for the weak.
South America speaks Castilian (Castellano is how Spanish is known in Spain and many other Spanish-speaking countries because it originally came from the Kingdom of Castille) because the Spanish Empire belonged to Castille and only Castilian citizens had the right to trade with the colonies during the first few centuries of the Spanish Empire. It wasn't until the 18th century that other ports (such as Barcelona) began to trade with South America. Most people who first migrated to South America came from the south of Spain (Andalucía and Extremadura) and that is the main reason why South American Spanish is more similar, in pronunciation at least and in other aspects, to southern Castilian dialects. Catalan, Basque and Galaico-Portuguese have always been different languages to Spanish and are still widely spoken in their self-ruled territories (autonomous regions in Spain.)
Jason   Friday, June 25, 2004, 09:39 GMT
Funny really, the UK is actually an autonomy, but no one really ever thinks of it as one in the UK. But the fact is Wales, Scotland and Ireland are seperate countries that used to be ruled seperately, but now everything happens in London.

I think Castellano is still quiet different to Latin American, just the most similar =)

Abrazo
Jordi   Friday, June 25, 2004, 10:11 GMT
As I told you you will find Castellano as spoken in Spain in Andalucia, Extremadura and the Canary Islands his quite close to South American Spanish (pronunciation, intonation and vocabulary). Which living English variety --overseas I mean-- would be closer to Southern English? Most would agree Australian and NZ English, as spoken by Educated speakers, would be closer although you can tell an Australian or New Zealander immediately, specially if you're from Southern England and the other way round, of course . Let's say it's similar for southern Spanish dialects and South American Spanish. Perhaps Xatufan and Juan can add to this.
Jason   Friday, June 25, 2004, 10:41 GMT
You are right.

However it is interesting that someone said in Latin American they say carro, instead of coche. I think it is quite common that this is found as the Latin Americans have been settled in South America for centuries now and have developed their own ways of life and different words are used in their Spanish.

Abrazo
Jordi   Friday, June 25, 2004, 11:07 GMT
The old fashioned pre-20th century Spanish word was "carricoche", meaning "carriage with a coach". If you remember in English "coach" also meant a "carriage" that carried people and "coach" and "coche" have the same origin. When a "horseless carriage" or "car" appeared, the Spaniards decided to call it a "coche" (the second part of the word) and the South American a "carro". Coche would have a more refined origin since it refered to coaches which were used by the upper class whilst "carros" were used by peasants. A "carro" is still a "carriage" in Spanish, specially if it is lead by animals in the countryside. Spaniards know South Americans call a "coche" a "carro" and South Americans know Spaniards call a "carro" a "coche". They are just synonyms. The same way the British see Australian soap operas Spaniards see South American soap operas. Not my cup of tea my a lot of the crow adores them. Sopme are Mexican and many are from Venezuela or Colombia. The Colombians sound pretty much like Canary Islanders, who happen to be Spanish.
Juan   Friday, June 25, 2004, 11:25 GMT
Jordi,

I'm afraid I'm not that familiar with Spanish accents apart from
the ones that I've heard in the Spanish TVE News Channel and some
Spanish movies that I've watched such as "Abre Los Ojos" (Vanilla
Sky) with Penelope Cruz and the like. I don't really know to what region those
accents belong to. I don't think I've ever heard a Catalan Spanish
accent, probably only those from Madrid.
Jason   Friday, June 25, 2004, 13:38 GMT
Catalan, is from areas like Barcelona in Cataluña.
Madrid is mainly Castellano. If you are learning Spanish and want to hear a traditional Castellano accent. Areas like Salamanca are perfect places to visit (Very Castellano.)

I'm thinking of studying there =)

Abrazo
Jason   Friday, June 25, 2004, 13:41 GMT
My msn messenger hotmail is jasondavies65@hotmail.com if anyone would like to add me to help me with my Spanish. I have just completed AS Spanish and am continuing with A2 this September.

Abrazo
General_Richardo   Friday, June 25, 2004, 14:01 GMT
Lo siento Jason. Soy un puto y te quiero mi amigo.
Xatufan   Friday, June 25, 2004, 14:28 GMT
I watch TVE a lot, it is broadcast here in South America. I've watched Saber y Ganar, El Secreto (with Eduardo Capetillo).

If you want to learn American Spanish, you can choose Quito. There you have many Spanish schools.

Jason: Bastantes Abrazos